Toyota Motor and Suzuki Motor will release a jointly developed lightweight mid-engined sports car, the project carries the symbol Midship Sports, Japanese magazine Best Car reported citing its sources in the companies.
According to the resource, Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota, is also involved in the work.
The promising model is planned to be equipped with a 1.0-liter gasoline turbo engine with 120 hp. and a torque of 200 Nm. The machine will also receive a "superstructure" in the form of a starter-generator - with its help, fuel consumption and emissions of harmful substances will be reduced. The engine will be aggregated with a 6-speed “mechanics” or “automatic”, the drive is rear.
The mid-engined cabin will have two seats, the curb weight will be only about 1000 kg. Estimated length, width and height - 4200 mm, 1720 mm and 1220 mm, respectively, wheelbase - 2550 mm.
The upcoming sports car is called the ideological successor of the legendary Toyota MR2, the last generation of which was produced in 1999-2007.
The project has such a division of responsibility: Suzuki is responsible for the engine, Toyota takes care of everything else. The front suspension is adapted from the current generation Toyota Yaris.
The exterior of the Midship Sports could be similar to the Sports EV mockup shown by Toyota in December 2021.
The price of a promising model will be $16.5-21 thousand.
Toyota and Suzuki are preparing a very light rear-wheel drive sports car
